Saudi, China & Turkey Stymie US Move Over Pak Terror List

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia has reportedly joined Turkey and China in a move to block a US-sponsored attempt this week to place Pakistan on an international terror-financing watch list.

Washington had reportedly working behind the scenes during the ongoing Paris meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to take action against Islamabad, which it says has acted against terrorist financing and the implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions.

Officials involved in the process told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that a US effort to reverse the decision on the watch list was under way Wednesday at the FAFT meeting.

The report said this was one of the “rare disagreements” between Saudi Arabia and the administration of US President Donald Trump.

The officials from the countries on the task force said Saudi Arabia was acting on behalf of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the Saudi-dominated bloc of six Persian Gulf nations which are collectively a member of the FATF.

The report said the US is still trying for the FATF, a secretive international body that monitors countries’ efforts to fight terror financing and money-laundering, to take a decision on this by Thursday.